Introducing The Veggie Van Toolkit

There is a groundbreaking new asset available to operators of mobile produce markets. The Veggie Van Toolkit was developed by researchers at the University at Buffalo, and funded by the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation in Massachusetts. The Toolkit is the result of the Veggie Van Study, funded in part by a five-year, $3.1 million grant from the National Cancer Institute (learn more).

The Study (and the resulting Toolkit) was developed to address food access and food security, while combatting growing food deserts in the US. A food desert is caused when a community is deprived of the wholesome foods that it requires to thrive. Low income and underserved communities must often rely on corner stores to feed their families, resulting in the consumption of overly processed foods.

The Toolkit was officially launched in March during the second annual Mobile Market Summit convened by UB – the Summit was held virtually due to COVID-19 (see model).

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By providing a road map for more veggie trucks to get out on the road (quite literally), while ensuring that the ones out there are successful, the Toolkit is an invaluable resource.

“We’re letting mobile market operators know that they don’t need to reinvent the wheel. This toolkit compiles a lot of information and resources from other markets,” said Lucia Leone, PhD, assistant professor of community health and health behavior in UB’s School of Public Health and Health Professions, and primary investigator on the Veggie Van Study.

“It’s important to use a strategy that’s evidence based. While there are lots of programs out there looking to address diet and food access disparities, our mobile market model has been tested by research and shown to have an impact on what people are eating,” Leone said.

“Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation is supporting the toolkit because we believe in the power of mobile markets to increase access to fresh, healthy, mostly local food for families and communities. The toolkit is an amazing asset to help get more of these vehicles on the road and into communities,” said Michael Devlin, the foundation’s director of grants and initiatives.

Highlights of the Veggie Van model include:

Selling a good variety of high-quality fresh fruits and vegetables at a reduced cost
Setting up markets in areas, such as health clinics and community centers, frequented by lower income families
Accepting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and other food incentive programs
Encouraging customers to purchase a bundle, or box, of produce, rather than just a few items
Offering cooking demonstrations, recipes and nutrition education to help customers use and understand what they’re purchasing

The Toolkit offers operators many of the tools that they will need to make a go of it, which will ultimately positively impact the neighborhoods that they serve.

“It’s kind of that Holy Grail for mobile market operators. It’s a template for setting up a market and learning from others’ mistakes and successes,” said Anne Lally, outreach coordinator for the Veggie Van study.

The toolkit provides step-by-step instructions for starting and running a mobile produce market following the Veggie Van model.

For more of a local reference, the Toolkit is already in the hands of the Massachusetts Avenue Project (MAP) here in Buffalo (lead image). MAP is one of the study’s partner organizations (there are 9 total).

“I really like the online toolkit — I’ve been using it all the time. I think there are a lot of good resources, and it’s been added to since the conference,” said Taylor Johnson, MAP’s mobile market coordinator, when asked about the ‘living document’.

Now, with COVID-19 throwing an additional wrench into the mix, it’s even more important to disseminate information, as well as healthy foods. Currently, everyone is feeling a bit out of sorts when it comes to procuring the foods that we typically take for granted.

“Mobile markets exist to address food insecurity and go to these so-called food deserts. All of a sudden, we all feel like we’re food insecure because everyone’s access has changed drastically,” Lally said. “Mobile markets have always been creative in how they’re implemented, and in their models, because they have to be. This is a time in which that flexibility and ingenuity is paying off.”

Leone also made mention of the mobile markets’ ability to roll with the punches and adjust accordingly (during times of crisis for example). With more people relying upon home delivery services, this is an unusually opportune time for veggie food trucks to play a critical role when it comes to ensuring that everyone has access to locally grown and sustainably sourced foods.

Access the Veggie Van Toolkit here.

Introducing The Veggie Van Toolkit

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